Baker's walk-off hit caps improbable Marlins comeback

Are the Miami Marlins ready and able to make a statement that they will be a factor in the playoff race?

With the trade deadline looming Thursday, that is what this three-game series against the first-place Nationals is about, a chance to show that right now matters.

The mission got off to a rousing start Monday as the Marlins rallied from a three-run deficit in the ninth inning for an improbable 7-6 victory on Jeff Baker’s single off the fence in left field off Jerry Blevins. It was Miami’s eighth walk-off win of the season, the second on a hit by Baker.

“At this stage, that’s got to be the biggest game of the year for us, from where we are in the standings to where we’ve got to go. And these guys understand that. We got down early, but they kept chipping away and put together big at-bats.”

The victory moved the Marlins to one game under .500 (52-53), six games behind the Nationals in the National League East. They are five back in the wild-card race, and beginning to believe.

“These guys, they believe in themselves, they believe in each other, and this group just keeps fighting,” Redmond said.

The last time Marlins trailed by three or more runs in the ninth inning or later and won was April 18, 2009 at Washington. In that game, they trailed 6-3 in ninth and won 9-6 in 11 innings.

The Marlins started the comeback against Nationals closer Rafael Soriano, with Adeiny Hechavarria tying it with a triple to right-center on the 11th pitch of an epic at-bat. Marcell Ozuna (single) and Jerrod Saltalamacchia (sacrifice fly) drove in the other runs in the stunning ninth.

The Marlins trailed 6-0 before getting on the board with two outs in the seventh.

It was their 20th comeback win and 25th one-run win of the season, the most in the majors.

“It's fun. The guys in the room like playing with each other. We’ve got a good group of guys that battle and play to 27 outs, and we've done it all year,” said Baker, whose drive off a first-pitch changeup from lefty Blevins sailed over the head of left-fielder Bryce Harper, providing a thrill for the crowd in the Clevelander and setting off a wild celebration on the diamond.

“I knew I hit it well. I've had some bad luck this year, so if he caught it I wasn't going to be surprised. But I was obviously glad he didn't.”

The at-bat of the night was Hechavarria fighting off everything Soriano had until he got a pitch he could square up. With the count 2-2, Hechavarria fouled off five of the next six pitches before sending a slider into the gap that sent Ozuna home with the tying run.

“That was definitely the biggest at-bat of the game to be able to go against a closer like [Soriano] and keep fighting, fighting, fighting and drive exactly what we needed, which was a triple,” Saltalamacchia said.

Coming off the best seven-game trip (6-1) a Marlins team has ever had, this week can be as meaningful as any the Marlins have played in three seasons at Marlins Park. Or it can go the way of the 2012 team, which was two games under .500 in mid-July before a skid of eight losses in nine games sparked the infamous trade-off of veteran players.

“We’re capable of anything. It’s up to us to do it on the field,” first baseman Garrett Jones said before the game. “If we show we’re winning on the field and playing good baseball, I think they’re going to let us keep playing and do our thing. It’s just up to us to continue that.”

The key reason the Marlins began the series having won seven of eight was strong starting pitching. Marlins pitchers had a 2.50 ERA since July 20 while holding opponents to a .212 average.

Nathan Eovaldi was the anomaly, going 0-3 with a 6.38 ERA in his first four July starts.

“He’s given up that one big inning, it seems like. In Atlanta he had that one inning [four runs in the second,] but then after that he settled in and cruised,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said before the game. “That’s the key for him, to eliminate those big numbers, those big innings.”

This time Eovaldi’s undoing came in the Nationals’ five-run sixth, after he limited them to a run on three singles through five.

Denard Span opened the sixth with a bunt single on a strange play. Casey McGehee’s throw was into the runner, and as Span crossed the bag he dislodged Jones’ glove along with the ball.

Back-to-back singles by Anthony Rendon and Jason Werth made it 2-0, and a walk to Ian Desmond ended Eovaldi’s night with the bases loaded. Dan Jennings came on and got Bryce Harper to hit a potential inning-ending bouncer to shortstop. Hechavarria speared the hard chopper, but lost control as he tried to flip to second.

The error allowed another run to score and opened the floodgates. Jennings walked in another run and served a two-run single to Danny Espinosa that pushed the Nationals’ lead to 6-0 and closed the book on another perplexing night for Eovaldi (five runs, six hits), who has not won since June 23.

Eovaldi labored through a 31-pitch first inning. But after giving up a hit, a walk and throwing a wild pitch to advance the runners to second and third with one out, he minimized the damage to a sacrifice fly by Adam LaRoche.

Eovaldi settled in quickly, breezing through the second on eight pitches. He set down nine in a row before LaRoche singled with one out in the fourth, and he was quickly erased on an inning-ending double-play grounder by Desmond.

Meanwhile, Marlins hitters mustered little against Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann, who they had treated rudely in two of three previous meetings this season.

Zimmermann had some recent trouble with a biceps strain, but Monday he looked like the dominant pitcher who in June had a 1.43 ERA in 44 innings, limiting Miami to two runs and four hits in seven innings.

Miami got a break with two outs in the seventh when Nate McLouth misplayed Jones’ sinking liner to right into a run-scoring triple. Ozuna drove in Jones with a single to left.

Second baseman Espinosa threw out Saltalamacchia from shallow right field to end the threat, but those runs changed the mood in the dugout.

Miami chipped another run off the lead in the eighth on singles by Hechavarria and Reed Johnson’s 12th pinch-hit of the season, and Baker’s groundout, plating Hechavarria.

McGehee worked a walk to open the bottom of the ninth and Jones put the rally in motion with his second extra-base hit of the night, a double.

“I think all year long we’ve done some good htings late in the game. We’ve been able to fight back, we just couldn’t quite finish it. To be able to finish it tonight, it’s a huge victory for us,” said Saltalamacchia. “It’s a feel-good moment, and we’ve got to enjoy this one tonight and then come back [Tuesday] and worry about that one.”